According to heat therapeutic systems based on inductive heating, the ailing part is interposed between a pair of planar electrodes, and the cancerous or tumorous tissues of the ailing part is necrotized through heating by applying high frequency electric current between the two electrodes. In reality, however, the electrodes are not directly applied to the patient but by way of bolus bags in which cooling water is circulated. This is for the purpose of cooling the subcutaneous fatty tissues immediately under the electrodes which tend to be heated (because the subcutaneous fatty tissues have a relatively high resistivity with respect to high frequency electric current) as well as the electrodes which also tend to be heated up. A unitized assembly consisting of a bolus bag and an electrode is called as an applicator.
As a conventional heat therapeutic system, there is known the system comprising a bed (therapeutic table) for supporting a patient, an applicator support unit (of the so-called gantry type of the C-arm type which is described hereinafter) for supporting the applicators, a high frequency generator unit for generating high frequency electric current for application across the electrodes of the applicators, a cooling system for circulating cooling water in the bolus bags of these applicators, a temperature measuring unit for measuring the temperatures of the bodily part of the patient which is to be treated or the ailing part and its periphery, and a central control unit for controlling the high frequency generator unit and the cooling system. Further, the control unit is provided with a keyboard for entering therapeutic data such as power output of high frequency electric current and so on, a display unit for monitoring the temperature changes of the ailing part and so one, and a printer for printing out such data.
The bed is provided with a mechanism for adjustably setting up various data on supporting the patient, such as the height thereof and the position of the opening through which one of the applicators is to be applied to the patient from below, according to the bodily part of the patient which is to be treated. The opening of the bed is so positioned that one of the applicators may be applied to the ailing part of the patient which faces the bed, for instance the back of the patient when he lies flat on his back on the bed. Meanwhile, the applicator support unit is provided with a mechanism for appropriately determining the points of application, the direction of application, and the application pressure of the applicators as they are applied to the patient.
However, according to conventional systems for high frequency heat therapy, the data for supporting the patient on the bed and the data of applying the applicators on the patient with the applicator support unit is determined manually by the operator of the unit, and even when the data is to be identical, different operators may select therapeutic data which is different from each other in a subtle way. Further, even when the same operator conducts the therapy, the therapeutic data still tends to differ in each run. Therefore, the heat therapy offers poor reproducibility, and the effectiveness of each heat therapeutic session cannot be precisely evaluated because the therapeutic data may not be identical.
Additionally, since the operator has to perform the heat therapy taking into account the therapeutic data recorded in the medical history of each patient, in certain circumstances, the operator may be too absorbed in such considerations to pay a sufficient attention to the well-being of the patient, and a certain safety problems may arise.
As for the beds for supporting the patients during high frequency heat therapy, according to the conventional arrangements, during the intended heat therapy, the patient is placed flat on the mat portion so that his ailing part may be placed in a therapeutic region which is defined in the plane of the mat portion of the bed, and a pair of applicators are applied to the ailing part from above and below. The therapeutic region is required to be a depressed area (or region) which is large enough to pass through the free end of the electrode portion of the lower applicator. Therefore, the ailing part (such as a hip) tends to droop in the therapeutic region when the patient is placed flat on the mat portion. Therefore, before the applicators are applied to the ailing part and the ailing part is therefore supported by the lower applicator, the patient has to exert some efforts to maintain his horizontal posture. However, such an effort is not only very painful to a seriously ill patient but also tends to induce mistakes by the operator due to the haste and efforts required for the placement of the applicators.
According to conventional high frequency heat therapy systems, the operator applies the applicators by visually checking the distances between the applicators and the bodily part of the patient that is going to be treated, and stops the drive motors when he considered that a desired contact pressure has been achieved between the applicators and the bodily part. Therefore, if he stopped the motors prematurely, the contact pressure between the applicators and the bodily part would be insufficient and a desired therapeutic result may not be obtained. On the other hand, if he stopped the motors a moment too late, the contact pressure would be excessive, and it not only would cause considerable discomfort to the patient, but may also injure the patient in extreme cases.
Further, even when an appropriate contact pressure is achieved, since the applicators are mechanically fixed as they are typically moved by screw rods or the like, a considerable discomfort is experienced by the patient as the respiratory movement of his chest and abdoment is restricted by the applicators.
It is desired to minimize the distance between the applicators irrespective of the contour of the patient's body. To this end, the applicator mounts may be provided with adjustable mean for linearly and angularly adjusting the positions of the applicators so as to accommodate the complicated contours of human bodies. In addition, it is also necessary to laterally adjust the applicators without altering the directions of their axial lines for optimum application of high frequency electric current to ailing parts. According to conventional arrangements, such lateral adjustment was either unavailable or highly troublesome to perform. If the orientation of the applicators is not properly adjusted, not only poor therapeutic results may be produced but also considerable discomfort will be caused to the patient.
According to convention applicators, since the bolus bag cannot be closely applied to the body surface of the patient if the body surface in the contact area contains any projections such as tumors or other bodily parts. If any gap exists between the bolus bag and the body surface, and edge effect is produce or, in other words, the areas surrounding such projections are more heated than other parts, and desired therapeutic results may not be obtained.